


History over the Internet

by AnubisWrites



Series: The Teacher AU [2]
Category: Downton Abbey
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Domestic Fluff, Established Relationship, Fluff, M/M, Original Character(s), Quarantine, Teacher AU, online class, projecting my own dreams for more exciting online classes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-06
Updated: 2020-07-06
Packaged: 2021-03-05 04:48:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,392
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25108729
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AnubisWrites/pseuds/AnubisWrites
Summary: Due to the lockdown, online classes are a necessity. And more time with the Barrow-Ellis family can only lead to even more shenanigans.
Relationships: Thomas Barrow & George Crawley, Thomas Barrow & Sybbie Branson, Thomas Barrow/Richard Ellis
Series: The Teacher AU [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1777612
Comments: 7
Kudos: 48





	History over the Internet

**Author's Note:**

> Another installment to the happiness Thomas and Richard deserve. A lot of these ideas originate in the Thomas Barrow Defence Squad on Tumblr, so check them out if you want; they are a delightful bunch. These are also heavily inspired by what I dream of when I zone out in my own classes.  
> A huge thanks to my beta and cheerleader Anna_Bee! (I missed just one comma this time)
> 
> Enjoy!

_*ting*_

_Heeeeeeeeeeeeeellooooo ca-can you heaaaaaaaar me? Uhm. Oka-aaaaa-ay, now._

An image of Mr. Barrow flickered on some 30 screens. His video was still pixelated, but as he moved away from the camera and it finally cleared up. They were having their first online class in the lockdown, and Mr. Barrow was having _slight_ issues. Finally, after 10 minutes of messing with the different settings, they were in business.

“Good morning everyone! How are all of you?”, he asked.

A slight chatter started as everyone described how they were spending their days. Someone was learning to draw, another to cook, others were binging a show, or revising lessons they had difficulties in, or many were just resting all day.

Among all the chatter, one student was especially happy. ‘Being able to be so casual and free to talk about anything was the best thing about this class’, Nikhil thought, and he’d missed it. They are better than his own family. And now with Mr. Barrow and his lot, he thought he could have some happiness too.

“That’s nice to hear. I’m afraid I haven’t been very productive myself, taking care of the kids doesn’t leave much time to myself.” He moved the camera to Sybbie sitting on the carpet and drawing something at the coffee table. “Sybbie, look who’s here!”, he called out to her.

Sybbie turned and waved at them, a bunch of hands waved back at her from the screen. “I’m drawing an elephant!”, she shouted and held up her paper, a blue glob on it. “Good job flower!”, Mr. Barrow encouraged her, and then turned the camera back to the white board on his wall. “Today we’re going to study about the War of the Roses.”, and he started drawing the complicated family tree that was typical of such epics. 

With a flurry of pages everyone started taking notes, and the morning moved on.

* * *

“Then Henry VI recovered a bit in 1455, and retook the-“

“THOMAS!”

Everyone glanced up to their screens, just in time to see Mr. Ellis rush into the frame shouting his husband’s name. Before Mr. Barrow could ask anything, he continued, “Did you know we can fit TWO cake pans in the oven, at the SAME TIME?!”, he breathed in astonishment, panting from presumably running from the kitchen. Mr. Barrow seemed sceptical and raised a brow whilst he asked him, “And how do you know that?” 

Some students laughed. Mr. Barrow knew his partner all too well, evident by how Mr. Ellis smiled widely and presented two huge cake pans from behind his back, the cakes still steaming with how hot they were. “Would you like some cake?” 

Mr. Barrow pinched the bridge of his nose as a few students sat back in their seats, already knowing this was going to go for a while. Both men just looked at each other and seemed to have a conversation none of them could decipher.

_Richard._

_Thomas._

_Why._

_Why not?_

_Two cakes. What’re we going to do with two huge cakes in the morning?_

_Eat them, what else?_

_The children are going to get so much more chaotic._

_But Thomas. Cakes. I made them for you._

_I know... I love you, you buffoon._

_I love you too._

Sighing, Mr. Barrow took the cakes and set them aside on a nearby table, then quickly kissed Mr. Ellis and pushed him out of frame to a chorus of AWWW from the others.

“As I was saying, King Henry re-established Margaret of Anjou’s authority over …”

* * *

Richard sat at his table at the other side of the hall, trying to find the beaded lace of the corset he’d planned to embellish in time for an order. _God! Where is it?_ He always means to clear his workplace a bit, but then it seems too tidy and he still can’t find anything. He works in the middle; something that looks like creativeness, disorganization, and panic. 

Sybbie shouts from the other side of the room, “How does my tiara look?”, to Thomas’ class and he finds what he’s been looking for. Sybbie is standing in front of the camera with the lace carelessly plopped on her head and grinning at the words of the encouragement from the children.

He smiles to himself. He grew up in a loving family, a luxury Thomas wasn’t given. He always puts up his defences around people, even those he had known for years and years. Life hadn’t been kind to Thomas when they’d met, and Richard knew how lucky and cherished he is be so close to him. And now these kids, who had accepted them all so quickly and with no judgement, just with open hearts and loving minds; it was nice to think that these kids were going to make the world of tomorrow. 

And then he barely caught the cloth slipping off the table.

A giggle followed by “Da-da!” came from the end of the fabric.

He picked up George who had recently started walking and so caught anything he could  
for support. “Hello sir! Where are you off to today?”, he asked, tickling him all over. 

However, the baby soon got restless and started kicking about, ready to explore on his own again. “Fine!” Richard put him down and went back to cutting out the patterns he needed.

* * *

“Then Warwick defeated the Lancastrian forces at Northampton on July 10, 1460.”, Thomas stopped for a second, remembering something. “Huh, Richard and I once went on a date there.” He shakes his head, deciding that maybe this was wasting their time. But Richard was once again endeared to the class when a student, Luck, he guessed, said “Mr. Barrow you can’t just leave it at that! What happened?” and the others made noises of agreement. They were a curious bunch for sure.

If it had been someone else, Thomas would have closed the matter right there, or never mentioned it to begin with. He didn’t. Slowly but surely, they were becoming family too.  
“It’s…It’s not a very interesting story. We just went to a bakery. And uhm…”, he paused and then laughed to himself. “You all think Richard is so charming all the time, still you don’t know how he asked me out.” Thomas gazed at him from across the room and Richard sighed at the memory. He hadn’t been born with tact, and it had taken a few hits and misses. 

“He said ‘Take me to a bakery, because I want a Cutiepie like you.’” Richard groaned in embarrassment exactly when various mixes of snorts and giggles came from the speaker. Thomas laughed a bit too and turned back to the board to continue the lesson.  
And if Nikhil smiled a bit more, in the hopes that he could have this one day too, no one had to know.

* * *

The end of the class was approaching, yet Mr. Barrow was still going with the lesson as if they’d just started. Students yawned a bit with boredom, and a few stopped taking notes just to listen to the story.

And then their saviour arrived in the form of a stumbling toddler.

“Then Edward, with the remainder of Warwick’s forces, pursued Margaret north to Towton.”

“Pa-pa!”

“Yes, Sweet- George no!”

Mr. Barrow turned a second too late, and George managed to pull the tripod off the table. The camera crashed to the ground, and the screen went black. 

“Oh for god’s sake…Flower!” Sybbie came running with tiny footsteps to help her father. “Could you please go play with your brother in your room?” And he sent her off with a kiss to her forehead. 

There were faint flickers of light as Mr. Barrow presumably picked up the camera, and then Mr. Ellis was by his side trying to help.

“Well this isn’t going to work anytime soon, so class is over for today kids. I’ll see you all, whenever I fix this.”, the voice came crackling through the busted mic in the setup. 

The students sighed, finally. They were free! A message saying **Meeting Has Been Ended** popped on their screens – but the audio was still going on.

“Now that that’s over”, Mr. Barrow whispered, “That story did remind me of someone who was being extra _sweet_ this morning -”

And never in the history of online classes have 30 members exited a meeting so fast.

**Author's Note:**

> I can't do anything more scadalous than that. They are kids! (I know, teens, but still)  
> Richard is absolutely a period tailor in modern times. I take no critisism on that fact.  
> As always, you can come screech at me (@amandaanubis) on Tumblr, or drop by in the comment section. I'd love to hear what you think and thanks for reading!


End file.
